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4 Jun 2007 : Column 120W—continued


Free School Meals

Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of children attending (a) denominational and (b) maintained schools in each local education authority in England were entitled to receive free school dinners in (i) 1997 and (ii) 2005-06. [137763]

Jim Knight: The information requested has been placed in the Library.

GCSE: Standards

Mr. Streeter: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list the local education authorities in England in order of proportion of students attaining five A to C grades GCSEs on average by its schools in (a) 1990, (b) 1995, (c) 2000 and (d) 2006. [139510]

Jim Knight: The information for 1994/95, 1999/2000 and 2005/06 has been placed in the Library. Information for 1989/90 is in Table C17 of Statistics of Education School Examinations GCSE and GCE 1990, which is also available in the Library. Since this information is only available within a hard copy publication, the local authorities are not ranked in order of the proportion of pupils achieving 5 A to C grades at GCSE.


4 Jun 2007 : Column 121W

Grammar Schools

Frank Dobson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills which organisation was used by his Department to assess the appropriateness of the electoral arrangements for deciding on the continuance of grammar schools; and how much that organisation was paid for its services. [138625]

Jim Knight [holding answer 22 May 2007]: Pauline Hughes Consultancy was commissioned to do this work. The remit was wider than assessing the appropriateness of the electoral arrangements and it is not possible to separate out the costs on that specific aspect of the work. The total cost of the work was £2,732.40.

Higher Education: Yorkshire and Humberside

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many students from (a) Yorkshire and Humberside, (b) the East Riding of Yorkshire and (c) nationally were allocated a university place in each year since 1997. [140530]

Bill Rammell: The numbers of undergraduate entrants to UK higher education institutions for each year since 1997/98 are given in the table. Figures for the 2006/07 academic year will be available in January 2008.

Number of entrants to undergraduate courses( 1) from East Riding of Yorkshire local authority, Yorkshire and the Humber Government office region and England, UK higher education institutions( 2) :( : ) academic years 1997/98 to 2005/06
Academic year East Riding of Yorkshire local authority Yorkshire & Humberside Government office region England

1997/98

2,685

32,310

377,855

1998/99

2,785

37,215

402,240

1999/2000

2,765

36,715

401,345

2000/01

2,925

36,965

398,700

2001/02

3,215

38,595

423,965

2002/03

3,110

39,685

440,520

2003/04

2,920

39,755

446,045

2004/05

3,130

40,050

446,695

2005/06

3,240

43,485

462,950

(1) Covers students on full-time and part-time modes of study.
(2) Excludes the Open University.
Note:
Figures are on a snapshot basis as at 1 December for comparability and are rounded to the nearest 5.
Source:
Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA)

Higher Education: Finance

Mr. Boris Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much per capita funding was provided by his Department for (a) higher national diplomas and (b) foundation degrees in each of the last five years. [138127]

Bill Rammell [holding answer 18 May 2007]: We can provide information on the rate of estimated average grant per full-time equivalent for the periods 2002-03 to 2006-07. The following table contains full-time equivalent cash figures calculated by the Higher
4 Jun 2007 : Column 122W
Education Funding Council for England. Figures include an allowance for widening participation.

Estimated HEFCE grant per FTE, to nearest £100
£
Foundation degree Higher national diploma

2002-03

3,600

3,300

2003-04

3,700

3,300

2004-05

4,100

3,700

2005-06

4,300

3,900

2006-07

4,500

4,000


Funds for rewarding and developing staff were consolidated into institutions’ teaching grants for 2004-05 (having previously been separate). This therefore contributes to the large increase seen in estimated rates of grant for FDs and HNDs between 2003-04 and 2004-05.

Information Sharing Index

Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the expenditure by his Department was on funding the supplement in The Guardian newspaper on the Information Sharing Index; and what editorial control his Department maintained over the publication. [114071]

Beverley Hughes: The expenditure by the Department on funding the supplement in The Guardian is as follows:

Guardian supplement x2 Society/Education

Every Child Matters

£120,000

October 2006


Two eight-page supplements on Every Child Matters (ECM) of which Contact Point (formally known by the working title of Information Sharing Index) were produced in association with Guardian Newspapers. The objective was to secure a wider and deeper understanding of, and support for, the Every Child Matters agenda.

The core of editorial content reflected the general scope of the Every Child Matters agenda, with case studies to illustrate how it is being employed across the country. The remainder reflected the particular editorial environment with more specific advice, inspiration and information about the application of Every Child Matters.

The Guardian submitted an editorial synopsis outlining what was to be covered by each supplement and passed this to those responsible for sign-off for fact checking, and to check for consistency against the editorial synopsis. The Guardian retained editorial control of the supplement to ensure that the integrity of the editorial was preserved.

Land: Expenditure

Mr. Scott: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much has been spent by (a) local authorities and (b) the Government on the purchase of land for educational use in (i) outer and (ii) inner London boroughs in the last 12 months; and what average price was paid per hectare in each case. [138741]


4 Jun 2007 : Column 123W

Jim Knight: The Department does not maintain records centrally on purchases of land by local authorities for educational use. It is not Government policy to purchase land directly for educational use. Purchases are made at local authority level, or by the institution which owns the educational facility.

Mediation: Pilot Schemes

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will take steps to increase the number of family law mediation schemes in England and Wales. [140270]

Ms Harman: I have been asked to reply.

The Government believe that mediation can have considerable advantages over going to court in the settling of family disputes, especially where children are involved. There are already around 10 in-court referral schemes, where family mediators work together with CAFCASS and the courts to refer appropriate cases for mediation. We are also planning 10 judicial awareness seminars across England and Wales aimed at raising awareness among judges and magistrates. The Family Mediation Helpline began operating in January 2006. To date, it has received 2,800 calls and made over 800
4 Jun 2007 : Column 124W
referrals to mediation services; around 10,000 visits have been made to the supporting website.

Legal Services Commission figures tell us that publicly funded mediations have increased from 406 in 1997-98 to 14,000 in 2005-06; public funding for mediation has increased from £0.5 million in 1997-98 to £13.8 million in 2005-06. Mediation results in a resolution of all the issues involved in 60 per cent. of publicly funded cases where it is used.

Missing Children

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children went missing from social services care in each of the last 10 years; how many went missing for over one month; and how many of those children he estimates may have been trafficked. [129997]

Mr. Dhanda: The number of looked after children who went missing from care in 1997, the last five years and the number who went missing for over one month in 2006 is shown in the following table. Information on the number of children who went missing and who may have been trafficked is not collected by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES).

Children looked after who were reported missing in the years ending 31 March 1997 and 2002 to 2006( 1,2,3,4,5,6)
Numbers
England 1997( 1,5) 2002( 2,6) 2003( 2,6) 2004( 1,6) 2005( 1,6) 2006( 1,6)

Children missing from placement during the year

570

1,000

1,200

830

970

970

Children missing for more than 30 days

370

(1) Figures are taken from the SSDA903 return which in 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06 covered all looked after children.
(2 )Figures are taken from the SSDA903 one-third sample survey.
(3 )Historical figures may differ from older publications. This is mainly due to the implementation of amendments sent by some local authorities after the publication date of previous materials.
(4 )To maintain the confidentiality of each individual child, data at national level are rounded to the nearest 100 if they exceed 1,000 or to the nearest 10 otherwise.
(5 )In 1997, a child is recorded with a missing placement if he/she is absent for more than seven days from his/her agreed placement.
(6 )In 2002 to 2006 a child is recorded with a missing placement if he/she is absent for more than 24 hours from his/her agreed placement.

Ofsted

Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the answer of 27 March 2007, Official Report, columns 1395-96W, on Ofsted, what the name was of each consultant employed; what role each consultant played; and what individual payments each consultant received. [133832]

Jim Knight: This is a matter for Ofsted. HM Chief Inspector, Christine Gilbert, has written to my hon. Friend and a copy of her reply has been placed in the Library.

Letter from Christine Gilbert, dated 24 May 2007:


4 Jun 2007 : Column 125W
Annex A
Supplier number Group Amount spent(£) Sub total (£) Total (£)

1

A

46,013

2

A

25,000

3

A

55,000

4

A

5,941

5

A

77,093

6

A

36,861

7

A

283,507

8

A

22,995

9

A

20,642

10

A

238,398

11

A

2,820

12

A

4,512

13

A

94

14

A

16,744

15

A

31,666

16

A

4,700

17

A

48,089

18

A

1,645

19

A

420,984

20

A

4,573

21

A

12,440

1,359,717

26

B

1,281

30

B

5,462

31

B

58,309

32

B

71,193

136,245

33

C

12,330

34

C

15,999

35

C

97,416

125,745

36

D

153

37

D

105,129

105,282

38

E

2,350

39

E

71,411

40

E

527,661

601,422

41

F

93,951

42

F

21,284

115,235

2,443,646


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